Reviews, tutorials, and snarky remarks.

vegan beauty

Long time no chat. I’m back today with a relatively exciting new unbagging. I was on Instagram and I saw this neat little beauty subscription floating around from Medusa’s Makeup. Some brands (like elf) have brand specific beauty subscriptions, but I haven’t personally seen many. What really caught my eye was that this is a vegan and cruelty free brand! So, this was pretty new and exciting to me. I decided to give it a try and I subscribed last week.

This beauty subscription is monthly, and it’s $15.95 per month, shipping including in the US but there is a $4 charge for international subscribers. Each bag is promised to have 4-5 full sized products from Medusa’s Makeup, amounting to close to $40 (per their website).

I subscribed last Friday, and I received my August bag on Thursday, August 18. So, the turnaround time from subscribing to having your bag in your mail box is pretty quick, in my opinion.

Moving on to what was in my bag this month, I received 2 full sized lip products and 2 full sized eye products. My two favorite types of makeup products to play around with! I was already very impressed and excited from that alone. Another reason why I’m excited is because I haven’t tried too many things from this brand in particular. I’ve been subscribed to Ipsy and others for so long, I feel like I’m starting to get duplicates and things that I will never use and just get tossed aside. For me, full sized products are easier to see, and thus, easier to try and use.

Okay, let’s get into what came in the bag:

1. Lipstick in Baroque $12– I really love the packaging of these lipsticks! Even the box is adorable. This shade is a purple-y pink shade with a little bit of a sheen to it. I do like shades like this, so I’m excited to try this one out and the formula. I kinda miss my classic bullet type lipsticks after all the liquid lipstick hype.

2. Lipgloss in Lover Boy $9– I also really love the packaging of this gloss. I actually already have a gloss by Medusa’s Makeup from a past Lip Monthly bag, and I do remember liking the formula and I didn’t find it to be too sticky. This is a very bright pink, and we all know how I feel about pink. Not too sure how much use I will personally get out of this gloss, but it is a really nice product and shade.

3. Eye Dust in Brown Sugar $7– I love loose shadows and eye dusts! These are some of my favorite products to receive and play around with. This shade is a really deep and rich shade of brown, which will be perfect for Fall when warm and burgundy smokey eyes come back to grace the makeup scene.

4. Eye Glitter in Ozone $7– This is such a pretty shade of blue. Blue is a shade that normally scares me, but I’ve been trying to use it more, especially after seeing the many blue and glittery smokey eyes Risa Dexter does on Instagram. I love glitter, and I hope to get more from this brand in the future.

Overall value: $35

Definitely not a bad mix of products for a beauty subscription. The great thing about this subscription is that you can cancel at any time, there are absolutely no strings attached. So, if you see a month’s bag that you want and you only want that bag, you can subscribe and get it, and cancel and do it as you wish. I honestly think that’s awesome, and maybe that’s a perk to an actual brand running their own subscription. They don’t exactly rely solely on the amount of subscriptions there are, so people can pick and choose as they please.

I’m very happy with this subscription so far, and I will remain subscribed. So, if you want to see more reviews on this and my other subscriptions, make sure you follow me or sign up for emails. You can also follow me on other social media sites.

As always, thanks for reading, and I hope you’re all having wonderful days.

Today I’m doing another Lip of the Day post! The last one I did (will link it at the end of this post) had a lot of positive feedback, so I’m going to try and make this a regular thing.

I know that Mondays can kinda-sorta-really-really suck, so I want to do a fun ombre look.

Personally, I love taking two colors and mixing them together to create new colors and/or doing ombre looks with them, because it’s like having multiple colors without having to buy extra products.

I have done a full review of Makeup Monsters on my Youtube Channel, and I do stand by what I said then. I think this brand is a great one to look into if you’re looking for new indie brands to try. Plus, they’re vegan friendly and pretty affordable in terms of liquid lipstick.

Anyway, the colors I have today are “Blackened Heart” and “Sedona,” and both are stunning colors alone. I actually mentioned “Sedona” in my May Favorites video.

Tip: To avoid getting the applicators muddy looking with different colors, use lip brushes for ombre looks and to mix shades together. I also clean up the outside lip line with my Nyx wonder pencil in “light.”

I’m really happy with how these look together.

All of the old and new colors from Makeup Monsters will actually be restocked this Friday! These sell out so quickly, so I highly suggest that if you want one or ten, to make sure you’re on the site when restock happens and order quickly. It’s almost like a limited edition MAC release makeup brawl on that site during restock. I’ve had lipsticks stolen out of my virtual cart. Shit gets real.

What are your thoughts on these? Will you be picking any up during restock this week?

Find the products at makeupmonsters.net

As always, thanks for reading, and I hope you’re all having splendid days!

Alright, so can we just talk about how amazing Elf (eyes lips face) Cosmetics is for a second? They are so affordable, cruelty free (many products are vegan friendly as well), and many things are incredible! I say many because I have tried some dud products from them, but I also have some forever holy grail items by their brand.

One of my favorite things being their Studio Line brushes. I own quite a few from face to eye brushes…most of them are so amazing and are about $3-6 each. I’m not a “sigma” or “mac 217” kind of gal, I like my brushes to be great quality, yet affordable. Personally, I can spend $25 on way cooler things than a brush. However, brushes are important and nessecary in my collection, so I don’t like to skimp on quality.

You all can probably imagine my excitement when Elf not only released their new ultimate kabuki brush, but also announced the release of 3 new studio brushes, including a contour brush!
That’s right, a true contour brush at a wallet busting $6.

And yes, I bought all 3 of the new brushes and the ultimate kabuki brush. Judge me if you wish, but I will admit that I’m still trying to build up my brush collection. I just started adding brushes to my routine possibly 2 years ago, and I started out with 2 no name drugstore brushes that I used for everything.

The 3 new brushes that came out a few weeks ago include a contour brush, a brow duo brush, and a blending brush. My overview today is about all 3 of the new brushes and the ultimate kabuki brush, which I’ve had for a few months now. It should be noted that the studio line from elf is vegan friendly, but the essentials line is not as far as I know.Also, I am not sponsored by elf, and these are my honest opinions. I purchased these brushes myself with my money.

Brow Duo Brush This handy little guy comes with an angled brush side and a small spoolie side to brush and shape brows. I really like this duo! The spoolie is small so it really gets into the brow hairs and brushes them out, and the small angled brush is soft, yet stiff enough to give a natural look to the brows while filling them in. If you have sparse brows like myself and need a bit of “help” creating what looks like hair, this does the job well. I’m still blown away that this only costs $3!

Blending Brush If I’m completely honest for a second, this is probably my favorite brush in this post. I adore this brush. It’s so soft, and the angle in it allows for a precise contour if you want a light contour that day, or you can use it to blend out the contour you’ve already laid down. I’ve used it to blend cream and powder contours, blushes, liquid highlighters…this brush is awesome. Even if you read this post and decide you have enough brushes, you may need to add this one. I am head over heels in love with it.

Contour Brush This brush surprised me. I was convinced I couldn’t like any contour brush more than my Crown Deluxe Contour brush, but this brush comes close to my love for it. This brush is soft, but not too soft. It will also give you an extreme contour, so beware because it does pick up a lot of product because the hairs are so close together and short. On days when I want a darker contour I reach for this brush, but I still find myself reaching for my Crown brush more often because I don’t like a stark contour except for date night when I know I’m going to be somewhere with a weird lighting.

Ultimate Kabuki Brush I’m not gonna lie, I had no idea what the heck I was going to use this brush for at first when I got it. I’ve had to play around with it a bit, but it’s actually a pretty awesome brush and can be used multiple ways. This brush is really dense. I’ve used it to pat on blush, to apply highlight (use the flat sides), and to clean up my face if I’ve had fallout from shadows or anything. This can probably be used as a neat body bronzing brush as well, but I’m not about that bronzing life. For the ways it can be used compared to the price, I think this brush is fantastic!

My thoughts on elf studio brushes in general are that they are amazing given the low price point. These are some to definetely consider adding to your cart if you’re placing an order with them anytime soon, or if you’re in the market for some new brushes and on a budget. I haven’t had any shedding problems with any of these brushes yet, but I’ve also only had them for a month or so.

Today I want to talk about my favorite thing…lipstick! I’m always down to talk about lipstick, but more specificially, liquid lipsticks. They seem to be talked about everywhere at the moment. I own quite a few different brands myself. Honestly, I’m addicted to liquid lipsticks. I love trying out new brands and seeing their color ranges. Is it a problem? Maybe. Am I gonna stop? Never.

I like liquid lipsticks because they are just easier to me. If they’re long lasting and easy to apply, I can put them on and still look glamorous without having to worry about lipstick being all over my teeth 5 minutes later.

Jeffree Star has released his own line of liquid lipsticks, and they are blowing up instagram! When I saw that he was releasing a bundle that included a true red, a deep red, and a nude…I almost died. I knew they would sell out quickly (less than an hour later, to be precise) so I stayed up and painlessly snagged my bundle at 3 am est. Honestly, that was the least painful makeup release I have ever endured. The site didn’t crash, I didn’t get my shit stolen out of my cart…or my bank account *COUGH LIME CRIME* So, thumbs up for that.

I wanted to do this review mainly because these shades will be available again next month. So, if you’re on the fence about whether or not to buy these and need a bit more insight, you’re in the right place.

Jeffree Star’s Velour Liquid Lipsticks are vegan and cruelty free. They are also $18 a piece, but the bundle I purchased was $46, so it was discounted a bit.

Packaging: Lush. It’s so cute. I love the fat tubes, honestly. They’re so bold, yet sleek in their own way. Different than many other lipstick packages I’ve seen lately.

Application: These come with a doe foot applicator, but I did notice that the brush has a bit of movement to it. I like that. I like that I can easily maneuver the brush in tight spots and get the most crisp line possible.

Formula: This formula is incredible. It’s probably my new all time favorite liquid lipstick formula. It’s so light on the lips, it feels like I’m wearing nothing. It’s not too drying, yet this formula is super matte. It’s rare to find a liquid lipstick that’s super matte, yet not super drying at the same time. It almost feels like velvet.

Color Payoff: Freakin’ intense. These are very opaque. Even the nude “Celebrity Skin” is very opaque, which is different for me considering my natural lip color tends to throw most nude shades off a bit.

Longevity: Ya may want to sit down for this, but these are truly everything proof. I have said with LaSplash’s lipsticks that they can get crumbly after a bit, and most do, but Jeffree Star’s do not. They are truly kiss proof. Yes, I used my boyfriend for lipstick research. Kiss your boos in this lipstick it won’t budge.

Overall Thoughts: It’s probably obvious at this point that I’m legitimately #obsessed with this line of liquid lipsticks. I didn’t order the two newest pastel shades, because pastel shades on pasty skin just isn’t my thing. I love my nudes and reds, which is why I ordered this bundle back in February. I believe this bundle (or at least the colors in the bundle) will be restocked in April! So, if you missed out on these, you will get another chance to order these soon. I really do love this line, and I hope that Jeffree Star’s cosmetic line continues to soar and expand, especially if everything will be this high quality.

Here are some photos and swatches of the bundle:

This is the shade “unicorn blood” by far my favorite of the bundle. A warm burgundy red. Aka perfection.

“Celebrity Skin” a very beige nude color. Doesn’t flatter my pale skin the best, but it pairs well with lip liners to change the color a bit.

“Redrum” an extremely true red shade with more orange undertones than blue, but it’s a good in between. I adore this bright red.

from left to right: Redrum, Unicorn Blood, Celebrity Skin

As always, thank you for reading! I hope you all found this review helpful in some way.
If you’re new to my blog, please stick around! I post reviews and other makeup fun topics often!